Hal collector cruises.

i have been a consistent Hal cruiser but am unhappy with the trend to make all cruises in the caribean over 11 days a collector cruise. I used to be able to take a 14 day cruise without going back to FLL. It is just annoying in that we are subjected to going to the same destinations rather than going to someplace new. There have to be more destinations Off Venezuela, Honduras ,Guatemala Costa Rica. What happened to the San Blas islands and Panama. Very few Hal cruises go to Tobago. These could be included in cruises 14 to 21 days without doing the Panama Canal or going back to Fort Lauderdale. Has anyone else noticed this trend? Do other cruise lines offer continuous 14-21 day cruises?

I am seeing less of the longer cruises being offered as the focus seems to be on 7 to 14 day cruises. Easier to fill ships with shorter ones.

Keith

I'm with you HAL 1678. I won't even board a ship for 7 days unless its a "girls cruise" and even this one coming up is now 10 days! I also can't for the life of me understand why the cruise lines don't branch out into different ports in the Caribbean. Sometimes there are so many people in port we don't bother getting off the ship!

We won't even consider a cruise less than 14 days because of all the hassle of getting to the embarkation port. We have no choice but to stay at a hotel near our airport before flying out in the morning. And then there aren't even direct flights. Have to do the same coming home.

And HAL is doing more and more 7 days cruises. They can fill those ships. Years ago it was mentioned that the purpose of the larger ships and 7 day cruises was to get them on the ships, get their money and get them off the ships. HAL discovered that people on 7 day cruises tend to spend more money than people on longer cruises.

I miss the days when we stopped at the San Blas Islands and Trinidad and Tobago.

HAL still has one ship, usually one of the smaller ones (that tells you something about the demand for what you are proposing) that sails 12-15 day cruises that aren't Collector Cruises. It has been recently sailing out of Tampa. One ship, out of the 5 or 6 HAL might have in the Caribbean in a given season is a fair portion.

It is hard for ships to go much longer than 10 or 12 days without re-supply and re-fueling. While refueling is possible in the Caribbean, resupply is adds costs.

I'm not a HAL frequent cruiser, but I think all the cruise lines are targeting younger populations and not their loyal, older cruisers. The younger ones usually don't select the long cruises and probably spend a lot more money onboard the ship. The older population has the loyalty programs, but are probably more demanding in the area of accommodations for physical limitations. I note that many really negative reviews come from folks who needed extra help and were disappointed with the ship's response. This applies to all the cruise lines, not just HAL.